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Would you move to Mars?

American billionaire wants to populate Mars with 80,000 people

Elon Musk, businessman leading private spaceflight company SpaceX, is considering installing a human colonies on Mars approximately 80,000 individuals who would initiate a new civilization where human is able to sustain itself.

Musk’s vision, ambitious program of colonization of the Red Planet could start with a group of “pioneers” of 10 people, who would travel to Mars aboard a vehicle carried an enormous rocket powered by liquid oxygen and methane

On Mars, they would start a new civilization that would self-sustaining and could grow dramatically, says Elon Musk.

Settlers would leave accompanied by large amounts of equipment, including facilities for the production of fertilizer, methane and oxygen from nitrogen and carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere and water from below the surface.

Settlers would also carry the materials needed to build transparent domes, the CO2-rich atmosphere (air extracted from the planet) would allow cultivation of land in the Martian soil.

As the colony would become capable of self-maintenance increasingly, the missiles would carry thither more people, but increasingly less equipment and supplies.

Musk Although not confirmed, it is possible that the vehicle used to be a new rocket, huge, capable of launching multiple, called MCT (Mass Mars Colony Cargo Transportation or Transport), which would carry a special capsule that settlers traveling.

Space X already testing a vehicle is an advanced model of the Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon capsule produced all of Space X, which has recently started to transport supplies and crew to the International Space Station under a NASA contract , who recently dropped their own vehicles, using the services of private companies.

Space X tested prototype called Grasshopper, is the first step towards the development of spacecraft able to take off and land vertically.

Although Musk did not provide details on the carrying capacity of the space vehicle, he revealed, however, that it will use a new rocket engine, two-step, called Raptor, more efficient than using the Falcon 9 Merlin engines.

Falcon 9 vehicle engines using liquid oxygen (LOX) and kerosene, in turn, Raptor engines will use LOX and methane. Musk explained why choose methane as fuel: methane has a lower energy cost, a specific impulse (ISP – a parameter that describes the efficiency of the engine) higher than kerosene and does not have any of the negative properties of hydrogen. (Hydrogen is difficult to store at low temperatures, making the metal to become brittle and is highly flammable.)

The businessman thought to how should be designed and equipped passenger capsule: oxygen concentration in the air inside would be 30-40% (the atmosphere is approx. 21%), and the supply of water should be stored in a tank that is at the same time, a barrier between passengers and solar radiation.

Musk has also calculations on the cost of such a journey to Mars, for every settler “ticket” to Mars would cost approx. 500.000 USD, a price that is considered affordable businessman, stating that it must be small enough that people of approx. 45 years in developed countries can raise enough money to make this trip.

He also estimated that of those around. 8 billion people will have the earth as at the time when it will be possible foundation of the colony, perhaps one in 100,000 will be ready to take this step, that means that there will be 80,000 potential migrants.

Musk estimates that colonization program – which I would like a collaboration between government and private enterprise – should cost around 36 billion USD. He arrived at this figure estimated that a colony that would cost 0.25 to 0.50 of gross domestic product (GDP) Unie nation would be considered an acceptable project financially.

In 2012, U.S. GDP was 14.5 trillion USD, 0.25% of that figure would be 36 billion USD. If 80,000 settlers would pay 500,000 dollars to go to Mars, it would raise $ 40 billion – enough to cover the cost of setting up the colony.

I wouldn't move. I have no desire to be a pioneer in a foreign environment that is not conducive to me breathing on it naturally. Added benefit....I don't need to choose only one female, one famous person, one source of entertainment, one book, or one food. I have many choices here!

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I wouldn't move. I have no desire to be a pioneer in a foreign environment that is not conducive to me breathing on it naturally. Added benefit....I don't need to choose only one female, one famous person, one source of entertainment, one book, or one food. I have many choices here!

Earth is on fire, your wife left you for a guy who is made of Asbestos, and now I ask you...

(Full disclosure. Stole the above comment from this article I read elsewhere a couple says ago)

Anyway, I love anything dealing with space exploration, but I doubt I would actually move there. A vacation anywhere in space would be an absolute dream of mine, but rather ironically, relocating to Mars would actually limit your experience of the world/universe to a few square miles on a wasteland with a relatively narrow demographic and very few opportunities to experience anything significant for the remainder of your life.

With regards to the story, I really like that Musk is dreaming big, but Space X hasn't even put a man into orbit yet, and the actual requirements for a Mars colony are astronomical (relevant word choice). You're talking about a colony from scratch, and not like pilgrims scratch, but zero water, atmosphere, resources of any kind except the sun scratch. With transportation/supply needs, construction, energy, waste allocation, logistics, minimal government, and the myriad of other basic urban planning needs I would guesstimate without actually seeing a breakdown of costs that 36 billion isn't covering even a fraction of that. Hell it took nearly 3 billion dollars to get the rover Curiosity to Mars without any life support systems, substantial weight, supplies, or means of return transport. And granted there will be huge advancements in price performance, but still at today's rates estimates vary from 5-20K dollars per pound to send anything to space, meaning an average 150 lb person costs 1.5 million just to get them clear of our atmosphere in a vehicle that doesn't stand a chance in hell making it to Mars.